Lange Commentary - 1 Kings 14:21 - 14:31

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Lange Commentary - 1 Kings 14:21 - 14:31


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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:

THIRD SECTION

The Kingdom In Judah Under Rehoboam, Abijam, And Asa

(1Ki_14:21 to 1Ki_15:24)

A.—The Rule of Rehoboam

1Ki_14:21-31

21And Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty and one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the Lord [Jehovah] did choose out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there. And his mother’s name was Naamah an Ammonitess. 22And Judah did evil in the sight of the Lord [Jehovah], and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins which they had committed, above all that their 23fathers had done. For they also built them high places, and images [pillars], and groves, on every high hill, and under every green tree. 24And there were also sodomites in the land: and they did according to all the abominations of the nations which the Lord [Jehovah] cast out before the children of Israel. 25And it came to pass in the fifth year of king Rehoboam, that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem: 26and he took away the treasures of the house of the Lord [Jehovah], and the treasures of the king’s house; he even took away all: and he took away all the shields of gold which Solomon had made. 27And king Rehoboam made in their stead brazen shields, and committed them unto the hands of the chief of the guard, which kept the door of the king’s house. 28And it was so, when the king went into the house of the Lord [Jehovah], that the guard bare them, and brought them back into the guard-chamber. 29Now the rest of the acts of Rehoboam, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Judah? 30And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all their days. 31And Rehoboam slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David. And his mother’s name was Naamah an Ammonitess. And Abijam his son reigned in his stead.

Exegetical and Critical

1Ki_14:21. Twenty and one years old was Rehoboam. [Rehoboam was forty and one years old.—Eng. Ver.] The usual reading is “forty and one.” Although the Chronicler (2 1Ki_12:13) and all translations give the latter, and only some MSS. give twenty and one, yet this is indisputably the right reading. For (a) in 1Ki_12:8; 1Ki_12:10 (2Ch_10:8; 2Ch_10:10), Rehoboam’s companions at the time of his accession are called éְìָãִéí , which generally mean infants, or at most youths, but never men of forty. The older commentators resorted to the very strange and far-fetched supposition that the young men mentioned in chap. 12 were not young in years but in understanding. Thenius thinks that their youth was relative as compared with the age of the “old men;” but men in ripe manhood of one and forty years cannot be called éìãéí in any case. (b) Regarding the son of Rehoboam, Abijah, 2Ch_13:7, says, the insurrection of Jeroboam and the separation of the ten tribes took place because his (Abijah’s) father was still a boy, âַòַø , and øַêְÎìֵáָá (of a weak, tender heart, cf. Gen_33:13). The son wishes to explain the conduct of his father by his youthful age; but he could not possibly speak thus of a man forty-one years old. Besides, 1Ki_12:6 sq. agrees perfectly with the description of Rehoboam’s conduct. (c) If Rehoboam were forty-one years old at the death of Solomon, who reigned forty years (1Ki_11:42), Solomon must have married during David’s life-time, and have married an Ammonitess, which was contrary to the law; and, as he calls himself only a ðַòַø (1Ki_3:7) when he had become king, he must have had a son in about his 18th year. There is nothing, however, of all this in the history; on the contrary, it says expressly that he married a daughter of Pharaoh after he became king, and she was the real queen (1Ki_3:1; 1Ki_9:24); he did not take Canaanitish wives till later (1Ki_11:1 sq.). All these positive historical evidences for the youth of Rehoboam at his accession cannot be disproved and rejected on account of a mere numerical figure, though it were originally in the text. We must, therefore, believe, like Capellus and Le Clerc, that the numeral signs were changed, as so often happens, viz., that of î with ë ; this obviates all difficulties, and there is no passage that in the least contradicts it. The name and descent of the mother are expressly given, because the queen-mother was very much esteemed and very influential, as the âְּáִéøָä , just as the sultana Walida is now in the Turkish empire. The text also subsequently gives the name of the queen-mothers, but only of those belonging to the Judah-kings (1Ki_15:2; 1Ki_15:13; 1Ki_22:42, &c.). The reason of the words, in Jerusalem, the city which the Lord did choose, &c., is found in the following 1Ki_14:22; 1Ki_14:24, in connection with which they mean: the residence of Jeroboam was indeed the city where Jehovah’s dwelling stood, which was the centre of the whole theocracy, but even here the people fell into idolatry. For the expression: put His name there, see above on chap. 6

1Ki_14:23-24. And Judah did evil, &c. Even in the times of the judges the apostasy was never so great in Judah as it was now under Rehoboam. For the expression: provoke to jealousy, see above. For áָּîåֹú see on 1Ki_3:2, and for àֲùֵׁøִéí see on 1Ki_14:15. The îַöֵּáåֹú are also mentioned in Exo_34:13; Deu_7:5; Deu_12:3; Deu_16:21 sq., in connection with the Astarte-images; from which passages it appears that the former were made of stone, and the latter of wood. îַöְֹּáָä from ðָöַá means something that is made fast or placed firmly, and refers to monuments (Exo_28:18; Exo_28:22; Exo_31:13; Exo_35:14; Exo_35:20; Exo_24:4; 2Sa_18:18). As they were only used to commemorate a divine appearance and revelation (Gen_28:18), men easily came to pay them divine honor, and in the heathen world they passed into regular idols (Lev_26:1). Whilst the wooden monuments (Astarte) represented the female nature-divinity, the stone pillars represented the male deity, i.e., Baal; hence äַáַּòַì îַöֵּáַú (2Ki_3:2; cf. 2Ki_10:26; 2Ki_18:4; 2Ki_23:14). The áָּîåú were erected on hills and mountains, the idols of the male and female divinities were placed under thick shady trees, as appears from Hos_4:13, cf. Deu_12:2; Jer_2:20; Jer_3:6; Jer_17:2. That ÷ָãֵùׁ (1Ki_14:24), used collectively, does not mean female (Ewald, Thenius), but only male prostitutes, is quite evident from 1Ki_15:12 ( çַ÷ְּãֵùִׁéí ) and Deu_23:18; the author mentions as the greatest excess of idolatry, that men or boys allowed themselves to be prostituted in honor of the gods. There is no reason to suppose, as Keil does, that they were such “as had castrated themselves in a fit of religious frenzy.” The words “in the land” (cf. with 1Ki_15:12) shows that they were not natives (Israelites or Judeans), but strangers, Canaanites or Phœnicians who had settled in the land for unlawful gain.

1Ki_14:25-26. Shishak came up, 1Ki_14:25. For this king see on 1Ki_11:40. 2Ch_12:2-8 gives a further account of his invasion of Judah. We do not know the cause; the Rabbins think it was only a robber expedition. As Jeroboam had sojourned as a refugee with Shishak (according to an addition of the Sept. to 1Ki_12:24, he had even married the daughter of the latter), it has been supposed that he was induced to undertake the war by Jeroboam. “It can scarcely be doubted that the king with a Jewish countenance on one of the monuments at Carnac (see Winer, R.-W.-B. II. s. 311, 474) was Rehoboam, if Champollion was correct in reading Sheshonk (Précis du syst. hieroglyph, p. 204),” Thenius. åְàֶúÎäַëֹּì , i. e., all that he found; took the shields, &c. (1Ki_10:16). These were of peculiarly high value. According to the connection, the author means, “That Judah was given over into the power of the heathen was the punishment that speedily followed their fall into heathen abominations” (Keil).

1Ki_14:27-28. King Rehoboam made, &c., 1Ki_14:27. The øָöִéí are the royal guards (see above on 1Ki_1:38), who were also named celeres with Romulus (Liv. 1Ki_1:14). They kept watch at the palace gate (see on 2Ki_11:6) and accompanied the king in solemn procession, as often as he went to the temple; it was only then that they bore these shields, and not on ordinary occasions. úָּà does not mean exactly the “guard-room,” but any place where the runners where staying. The costly golden shields which Solomon had made were in the house of the forest of Lebanon (1Ki_10:17), but it is doubtful whether the brazen shields of Rehoboam were only kept in the úָּà , being considered as “of no value” (Thenius).

1Ki_14:29-31. The rest of the acts, &c. What 2 Chronicles 11 relates of the cities fortified by Rehoboam, of the emigration of priests and those faithful to Jehovah to the Judah-territory, and of the family relations of Rehoboam, is certainly derived from ancient historical sources, probably from those mentioned in 2Ch_12:15 (Thenius). As also the account of the Chronicles gives no details of a regular war of Rehoboam with Jeroboam, îִìְçָîָä here 1Ki_14:30, and îִìְçֲîåֹú 2Ch_12:15 only refer “to the hostile position of both kingdoms as manifested in single acts” (Winer), therefore not to a warlike disposition simply.—Thenius thinks that the repetition of the concluding words of 1Ki_14:21 (the name of his mother, &c.) “was caused by a fault in the copyist that cannot be accounted for.” This, however, is very improbable, for why should just these words have been taken by a copyist from 1Ki_14:21, have been repeated here, and then always have remained? The repetition appears rather to have been intentional, in order to show once more at the end of the account of Rehoboam that the mother of this king was descended from that rough heathenish people, the Ammonites, who were always hostile to Israel, and that under Solomon the worship of Moloch, the “abomination of the Ammonites,” was brought by her to Jerusalem (1Ki_11:7) and suffered to remain for her by his son Rehoboam. This appears also to be meant by 2Ch_12:14, in connection with 1Ki_14:13.

Historical and Ethical

1. We learn only a few facts from these books regarding king Rehoboam and his reign, and from those few no certain conclusion can be drawn regarding his relation to the fundamental law of Israel; the general phrase also which expresses the relation to Jehovah, and which always immediately follows the account of the personal circumstances of all the later kings (cf. 1Ki_15:3; 1Ki_15:11; 1Ki_15:25; 1Ki_15:34, &c.) is omitted here. But Chron. concludes its rather more explicit account with the words: “he did evil, because he prepared not his heart to seek the Lord ( äֵëִéï ),” 2Ch_12:14; and the remark is made before (1Ki_14:1), that “he forsook the law of the Lord.” We are not to conclude from this, however, that he himself served idols; on the contrary, it is emphatically said that, in solemn procession, accompanied by his whole body-guard, he continually visited the temple, and thus showed himself publicly to all the people as a worshipper of Jehovah. As such he showed himself also when Shishak made war against him (2Ch_12:6; 2Ch_12:12) But he forsook the law in so far that he did not obey its injunctions; he suffered idolatrous worship in Jerusalem and did nothing towards exterminating it. This was “the evil” he was accused of; he continued Jehovah’s servant, but he wanted firmness and decision. Sometimes fiery and arrogant, sometimes yielding and weak, he was unstable, as he had shown himself in Shechem at the commencement of his reign (1Ki_12:5-9; 1Ki_12:18; 1Ki_12:21); he seems also to have been under the influence of his idolatrous mother (see on 1Ki_14:31) and wife (1Ki_15:13), and of his many wives (2Ch_11:21). Menzel (Staats- und Rel.-Gesch., s. 236) is wholly wrong in referring, in his superficial way, the expression ìִãְøåֹùׁ àֶúÎéְäåָֹä (2Ch_12:14) which he translates “to ask the Lord,” to “the relation of the king to the priesthood, and in that he is blamed for not inquiring of the Lord, we can perceive that Rehoboam had not been led, by the misfortune which had befallen him, to accord greater consideration to the priesthood than they had enjoyed under his predecessors.” That expression denotes rather, as Dietrich very justly remarks (Zu Gesenius W.-B. s. v.), “the striving of the spirit after God, the inward seeking, especially in prayer, and calling upon Him; cf. Isa_55:6; Isa_58:2; Jer_29:13; 2Ch_15:2; 2Ch_15:14; 2Ch_15:6; Hos_10:12; Psa_14:2.” That the priesthood under Rehoboam strove for greater consideration than they had under David (for instance) is a pure invention; but we see from 1Ki_12:22-24 and 2Ch_12:5-6; 2Ch_12:12, that Rehoboam did not resist or act in opposition to the prophetical word.

2. The idolatrous worship that commenced in Judah under Rehoboam was not begun by the latter but by the people; for 1Ki_14:22 does not say, he did evil in the sight of the Lord, as is said of other kings, but: Judah did, &c. This seems remarkable, because Judah had the central sanctuary in their midst, and the priests and levites; indeed all the true worshippers of Jehovah had left the apostate ten tribes and had gone to Judah, by which the kingdom of Jeroboam was weakened, but that of Rehoboam strengthened (2Ch_11:13-17). That Judah, nevertheless, fell so deeply was owing to an after-influence of the condition of things under Solomon’s reign, and particularly the latter part of the same. Commerce and intercourse with foreign nations, acquaintance with their customs and mode of life, great riches and uninterrupted peace, had exercised an enervating and demoralizing influence. Ease, superfluity, and luxury gradually undermined serious thought, and brought forth lukewarmness, indifference, and even aversion to the strict covenant-law: what was written in Deu_32:15 (Hos_13:6) came to pass. Added to this, Solomon at last removed every obstacle to the strange heathen-worship of his wives, so that although Jerusalem was the centre of the Jehovah-worship, it was at the same time the spot where the most various national gods were adored, and where their unchaste worship found a ready soil (see on 1Ki_11:1-8). Immediately after Solomon’s death this “religious liberty” could only have been abolished by force and iron severity; but the times were not adapted for this task, and still less was his successor, Rehoboam, the son of the Ammonitess, the ðַòַø åְøַêְÎìֵáַá (2Ch_13:7); so that idolatry and immorality rather increased than decreased, and the fall of Judah seems to have been even deeper than that of Israel. However, the condition of Judah was not so bad as the condition of Israel in this respect; as in the latter, the breach of the fundamental law had become the State religion and institution of the kingdom, the separate existence of which depended on the new worship; whilst in Judah the apostasy was only permitted, and the lawful worship of Jehovah had always a firm footing at the central sanctuary. Many good elements also still existed in Judah (2Ch_20:12). Judah always repented as often as they fell into idolatry, and they continued to be the guardian of the law, whilst Israel, on the contrary, never completely returned to the right way.

Homiletical and Practical

1Ki_14:21-30. The deep fall of Judah: (a) Whence it came (Deu_32:15; Hos_13:6; Pro_30:9—see Hist. and Ethic. 2); whither it led (Rom_1:25-28). Amongst individual men as in entire communities, cities, and nations, revolt against the living God results from haughtiness, over-prosperity, and carnal security, bringing as inevitable consequences, poverty, ruin, and misfortune in war. High as stood Judah under David and Solomon, so deep in proportion did it sink under Rehoboam.

1Ki_14:21-22. Wherever God has a house, the devil always builds a chapel close at hand. How often does it happen that cities and countries, whence it has been ordained by God that the light of His knowledge should shine forth, have become the seat alike of superstition and of scepticism, and thus infinitely sink below the level of those lands which have never heard His blessed word. When an individual man, or a whole community and people, who have received and acknowledged the truth, again depart from it, then is their last state worse than their first (Isa. 11:26).

1Ki_14:23-24. Wherever profligacy and fornication are in the ascendant, there is true heathendom, how many soever may be the churches. King Rehoboam, too, sinned grievously in this wise—he, although not himself an idol-worshipper, yet failed as a servant of God, in that he did not oppose idol-worship with all his might, and even regarded it as having equal rights with the service of the true God—even, alas, as we find Christian sovereigns who permit unbelief and revolt from the truth to rank upon a level with faith and confession of God in Christ.

1Ki_14:25 sq. Where the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together (Mat_24:28). The chastisements of God are never delayed where immorality and godlessness prevail, but they do not always lead, as with Judah, to the humble confession: The Lord is righteous! (2Ch_12:6).—Calw. B.: Sovereigns are often only the instruments of God in their undertakings, although they do not or will not recognize the fact.

1Ki_14:26. The true treasures of the temple are the worship of God in spirit and in truth, prayer, faith, love, and obedience; these no thieves nor robbers can steal, and without them all the gold and silver in temples and churches is vain and empty show. Golden or copper shields are alike in value if only we can say: The Lord is our shield, and the Holy One of Israel our King.

1Ki_14:27-28. It is better to pray to our heavenly Father in our closet, rather than to worship with pomp in church to be seen by men. Yet now there are many who ceremoniously frequent the churches, but neglect to maintain the fear of God, discipline, and good morals in their own houses and neighborhoods.

1Ki_14:30-31. It is not to a man’s honor when, at his grave, these words are said: There was life-long enmity between him and his neighbor.

Footnotes:

1Ki_14:21.—[Our author substitutes the number twenty-one in his translation, the reasons for which see in the Exeg. Com. On the other hand, the entire agreement of the VV. and MSS. is a strong argument for the text as it stands. Keil decides against the proposed alteration.

1Ki_14:23.—[ åַéִּáְðåּ âַñÎäֵîָּä “and they, even they built,” i. e., the Jews as well as the Israelites.

1Ki_14:23.—[ îַöֵּáåֹú = monumental pillars for religious purposes. Sept., óôÞëáò . See the Exeg. Com.

1Ki_14:26.—[The Vat. Sept. thus enlarges the close of 1Ki_14:26 : shields of gold which David received of the hand of the children of Adrazaar, king of Souba, and brought them into Jerusalem, all the things which he received, the arms of gold which Solomon made, and carried them into Egypt.

1Ki_14:27.—[The Heb., followed by all the VV., has the plural. The A. V. must have used “chief” collectively.

1Ki_14:31.—[The Vat. Sept., as also the Syr., omits the foregoing clause, which is repeated from 1Ki_14:21.—F. G.]